-Nov 16, Hannah Hargrave, Living -

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On November 13th Whoopi Goldberg turned 63, and it’s no surprise to hear that the legendary comedienne takes ageing with a pinch of salt and a lot of laughter.

Whoopi Goldberg isn’t just a celebrated Hollywood star with more than 35-years in the business, she’s also a great-grandmother. However the straight-talking ‘Sister Act’ star and TV co-host prefers not to dwell on any negativity surrounding ageing and instead has a good old joke about the natural process that affects us all.

“Listen, the best advice on ageing is this: What’s the alternative?” she says. “The alternative, of course, is death. And that’s a lot of s*** to deal with. So I’m happy to deal with menopause. I’ll take it.”

Whoopi has been hugely successful in her career but not so much in her marriages. She’s had three husbands; Alvin Martin from 1993-1979, David Claessen from 1986-1988 and her one-year-marriage to Lyle Trachtenberg came to an end in 1995.

While she’s admitted a walk down the aisle isn’t for her, she treasures the daughter she had as a teen from her first marriage and the three grandchildren and one great grandchild that followed. That’s not to say she doesn’t acknowledge how being a great grandmother in her early 60s makes her feel a bit old.

“Every time I try to avoid becoming a little old lady I realise I’m getting closer to being a little old lady….I have grandchildren, I have great grandchildren.”

But the Oscar winner isn’t about to start experimenting with plastic surgery or cosmetic procedures, especially when she makes the ageing process the butt of many of her stand-up jokes.

“You wake up and realise you’re not the youngest thing in the world anymore and all the things that that entails,” Whoopi explains. “Everything is on the floor, you’re picking it up, you’re putting it on your head. It’s a whole thing.”

Aside from all her jokes Whoopi rightly insists that your age, your skin colour or your sex shouldn’t stop you from achieving whatever you want in this world.

“I can do anything. I can be anything,” Whoopi insists. “No one ever told me I couldn’t. No one ever expressed this idea that I was limited to any one thing, and so I think in terms of what’s possible, not impossible.”